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Destination: spin city
YOU have to admit: floppy drives are snail slow and painfully small in size. While Zip drives are faster, they are far from universal, and Zip discs are anything but cheap. But now, new CD-Rewritable and DVD drives combine affordability with enough speed and flexibility to qualify as a first-rate storage option.
DVD drives have particularly soared in performance over the past few months. But they may offer more speed than you’ll ever need. On the other hand, CD-RW drives too have gained enormous fame in a short period, with virtually every new mid-range PC having such a drive preinstalled. So, which one’s the right choice for you?
CD-RW drive
CD-RW units are being increasingly sold these days. Primarily, their use ranges from making data backups and copying music CDs to archiving and distributing data. Flexibility is another charm of CD-RW drives. They can all read CD-ROM discs and write to both CD-R and CD-RW media. Besides that, most are also able to read formats such as CD-ROMs, CD-Text, video CD, photo CD and CD-Extra.
The popularity of CD-RW drives is also due in part to the many ways in which you can connect them to your computer. Besides the most popular and the least expensive EIDE drives, SCSI, parallel and USB versions are slowly gaining popularity as well. Generally, SCSI drives cost more than EIDE drives and they require a separate SCSI controller. SCSI drives actually decrease the workload of your CPU and they also write more reliably on older, slower systems. However, if you purchased your system within the last year or two, you should get optimal performance from an EIDE drive.
Other removable storage solutions also have their advantages, but each of them imposes unique and often absurd limitations. For instance, Iomega’s Zip drive works well if you want reasonably fast data transfers and compact media. But the problem is that its discs cost up to six times as much as CD-RW media and they work only in other Zip drives, which are unfortunately, not very common.
On the contrary, CD-RW drives are fast enough for making daily backups, archiving images and databases and even copying entire CDs. Best of all, you need not worry about the cost: The average price of a 700MB CD-RW disc now hovers around Rs60-80 and CD-R discs (as the name suggests, you can only write to it only once, thus the term CD-Recordable) cost as little as Rs. 30-50. Consequently, when the information on your CD-R becomes obsolete, there’s nothing to do but use the disc as a Frisbee or add it to your coaster collection.
However, there is the time factor — most CD-RW drives write CD-R discs than they write CD-RW ones, and most drives read CD-R discs faster.
Most new CD-RW drives are also capable of writing CD-RW discs of up to 700MB and CD-Rs up to 800MB. CD-RW drives have registered a significant drop in price over the period, with some fetching for as little as Rs2000.
The following table illustrates the pros and cons of various storage media, ranging from the ubiquitous CD-R to the less common Zip 250.
DVD-ROM
The appeal of DVD-ROMs is its capacity to store more data. While a typical CD-ROM holds 650MB, a standard DVD-ROM holds 4.7GB. That’s why DVDs can easily accommodate the overwhelming data of a full-length film. They also deliver images with incredible clarity and detail, surpassing a VCR’s output. Unlike videotape, they include extras such as subtitles in up to 32 languages and full sound tracks in up to eight as well.
The recently introduced Combo drives are able to read DVD-ROMs too, as well as write to CD-RW media. Besides this, they offer support for reading DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD-RAM too. As they are gaining popularity, prices of such units have also gone down over the time.
Though storage capacity is the strength of DVDs, the technology often loses out even in applications where storage is an issue. This is because many vendors would rather put their products on multiple CDs if necessary than switch to DVD format. Also, unfortunately, far fewer people own DVD-ROM drives than own CD-ROM drives, so it’s harder to share data.
DVD-RAM, on the other hand, is considered to be the rewritable kin of DVD-ROM. DVD-RAM drives can read and write to DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD-RAM, CD-R and even CD-RW discs. Although, DVD-RAM is expensive, it may only be your answer if you’re looking for far more capacity than CD-RW has to offer.
Samsung’s SR-T03B DVD multi-drive is such an innovative product that combines the maximum recording capability ever seen in a device with a revolutionary defect management system built specially for the DVD format.
X-plaining X-ratings
There is still much confusion about the speed or the X-ratings of CD drives. So, what is an X-rating? The X-rating is approximately equal to 150Kbps for CDs. Thus, 24X means 3600Kbps, 52X means 7800Kbps and so on. However, on a CD-ROM, tracks farther from the center of the disc pack more data per revolution; so drives read the outer tracks faster than they do the inside tracks. As a result, manufacturers print this maximum rating on their devices. For instance, a 52/24/52 drive can write a CD-R at 52X, write a CD-RW at 24X and read a CD-ROM at up to 52X.
In the case of DVDs, however, X equals a blistering 1380Kbps. So a DVD drive rated at 16X should theoretically read at 22080Kbps. That’s about 2.5 times the fastest CDROM available to date!
Top CD-RWs
Samsung SW-252B: The fastest, most noiseless 52/24/52 drive on the chart with high capacity 8MB buffer memory. Provides the best balance of performance, price and features. Bundled hardware includes an audio cable, IDE cable and mounting screws. Software comprises Ahead Nero 5.5 and CD documentation.
Samsung SM-348 Combo: Although slightly expensive, it is a very fast 48/24/48 drive with 8MB of buffer memory. Capable of reading DVDs. Bundled hardware includes an audio cable, IDE cable and mounting screws. Included software comprises Roxio EasyCD 5.3, CyberLink PowerDVD Player and documentation.
LG GCC-4480B: Good 48/24/48 drive with 2MB buffer memory. Bundled hardware includes an audio cable, IDE cable and mounting screws. Included software comprises Ahead Nero 5.5, CyberLink PowerDVD Player and documentation.
Sony CRX220A1: Relatively expensive 52/24/52 drive featuring 2MB buffer memory. Included software comprises BHA B’s Recorder Gold 5.6 and BHA B’s Clip 5.16 software.
LG GCE-8520B: Average 52/24/52 drive with 2MB buffer memory. Noisy at high speeds; no DVD playback. Bundled hardware includes an audio cable, IDE cable and mounting screws. Included software comprises Ahead Nero 5.3.
Spinning into the future
It is about time you make decision. That old CD-ROM drive in your computer may soon be labeled as obsolete as a 5.25-inch floppy drive now that potential replacements have spun into view. The new CD-RW and DVD technology pack affordability and versatility in storage options for everything from recording multimedia CDs to backing up critical files. The choice is yours.
The writer
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